U.S. Releases Revised Internet Names Plan

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June 05, 1998 (10:57 AM EDT)

By Mary Mosquera,

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Clinton administration laid out the process to hand over the Internet domain name system to a new organization in its revised and final green paper Friday, but hinted that the U.S. government could continue overseeing the system if the private sector cannot assure the Internet's stability.

Registering domain names is a whole new game now. Do you know how it works? Our flowchart cuts through the confusion.

Domain names -- such as http://www.techweb.com -- are used to identify Web and e-mail servers. At present, the U.S. government has overall responsibility for assigning most Internet domain names, but it licenses the right to allocate many domain names to Herndon, Va.-based Network Solutions.

The original administration plan, released Jan. 30, proposed up to five new domain names, each managed by one registrar, which assigns the address. The revision leaves those decisions up to the new board. A 15-member nonprofit board would oversee the domain name system.

Most thorny issues -- such as expanding the existing names and handling trademark disputes -- are to be left to the group that will oversee the domain name system. However, the administration is asking the World Intellectual Property Organization to start a process to recommend how to resolve trademark disputes.

The most profound change of Internet name administration to the private sector will be competition.

"For the consumer, introducing competition in domain names means more choice in products, innovation, value-added services, speed in getting address, and lower prices," said Becky Burr, associate administrator of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration's office of international affairs. "Wherever there is competition, there are cheaper, better, and more products," she said.

Starting up the new organization to oversee the Internet by Oct. 1 is an aggressive timetable, she said. Comments on the original green paper have resoundingly asked for the private sector to lead.

"The U.S. government is stepping up to this challenge. We expect the private sector to step up to the challenge of leadership, as well," she said.

"But we won't pass over administration [of the domain name system] to an interim board until we are satisfied with the stability of the process, that it is based on principles of inclusiveness and transparency," Burr said.

The Clinton administration will not take an active role in forming an interim board, which will begin setting up the international, nonprofit organization to oversee the Internet name system and set up selection for a formal board, Burr said. The U.S. government will only help facilitate the process, she said, "for the private sectors around the world to come together to form the board."

Who will sit on the board and how they will be selected were unclear. Burr suggested the government was prepared to recognize organizations that represented the entire range of Internet stakeholders, such as registrars of names, trademark and interest groups, ISPs, and users.

Various parts of the private sector have come together to talk about the process by which the board is to be decided, but have been waiting for the green paper to be released. "There will be very little debate of who sits at the table," she said.

The bottom line, Burr said, was transition to private sector management be based on stability, competition, bottom-up coordination, and global representation. The new organization must operate openly, she said, "to protect against capture by self-interested factions, and that provides robust, professional management."

Burr did not say specifically whether the administration was opposed to renewing the contract of Herndon, Va.-based Network Solutions, the present naming entity, after its Sept. 30 expiration if it were not satisfied with the new organization.

"We will take whatever appropriate steps it needs to ensure the stability of the Internet," Burr said. "This is not intended to be a big stick, but it is a reality."